Images on, and within soap are well known, as well as molding a logo into soap. Imbedding images in clear soap has been known as early as 1931 (Villain U.S. Pat. No. 1,827,549). More recently dissolving polymer material containing an image has been used (Wolfersberger U.S. Pat. No. 6,184,191 for Transparent Soap with Printed Logo). Many craft and hobby websites, such as Brambleberry.com give instructions how to imbed images on, and in soap, and sell clear soap base, for that purpose. Such sites also sell molds for casting soap in various shapes, and scents to relate to those shapes. Objects are also sometimes embedded in soap for advertising purposes or as an incentive for a child to use it. Food-safe printers and inks are also well known and used to print on water-soluble paper for soap and edible paper for images on cakes or cookies.
Decorative soap has long been used to advertise and reinforce not only its own brand, but others as well, such as in the hospitality industry, where small bars are given away in hotels with the logo of the hotel or hotel chain on the packaging or printed on, or molded into the soap itself. Decorative soaps are also used to create an incentive in children for using soap and enjoying their bath. An imbedded image can be made to last until the soap is used, or largely so, as in the aforementioned patents. Various soap-packaging arrangements offer lenticular images for soap, such as Wenzhou Chongkun Printing Co, Ltd., on mainland China, and ABC has held a “Super Soap Weekend”, in which a pin was released that features a TV with a lenticular image inside of it that changes to reveal the names of different soaps. Such efforts at printing lenticular images on, or including them in, soap packaging has shown itself to be an important aid in marketing soap. However, once the package is opened, the soap itself is not as effective as a marketing tool. Therefore it would be highly desirable to be able to achieve as eye-catching as possible a display on or in the soap itself.